Sydney Barnes
Sydney Francis Barnes
Born: 19 April 1873, Smethwick, Staffordshire
Died: 26 December 1967, Chadsmoor, Staffordshire
Major Teams: Warwickshire, Lancashire, Wales, England.
Known As: Sydney Barnes
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Right Arm Medium, Right Arm Fast Medium
Test Debut: England v Australia at Sydney, 1st Test, 1901/02
Last Test: England v South Africa at Durban, 4th Test, 1913/14
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1910
189 wickets in only 27 tests at an average of 16.43- easily the
lowest of 20th century test cricketers.
Took a wicket every 41.6 balls (the next best amongst England's
top 10 wicket takers is Trueman- every 49 balls).
Took 9-103 against South Africa, 1913-14 (second only to Laker
in tests, (17-159 in match).
He took 49 wickets in 4 tests in this series, the record for a
series.
8-29 against South Africa in 1912.
His last 100 wickets were taken in only 11 tests (21 innings),
by far the fastest 100 wickets ever.
All his test wickets were taken against Australia and South
Africa.
The only man to be picked for England whilst playing league and
minor cricket.
1432 wickets for Staffordshire at less that 9 runs each, and
played for the county until he was over 60.
Career Statistics:
TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 27 39 9 242 38* 8.06 0 0 12 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 1312.1 356 3106 189 16.43 9-103 24 7 41.6 2.36
FIRST-CLASS
(career: 1894 - 1930)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 133 173 50 1573 93 12.78 0 2 72 0
Balls R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 31521 12289 719 17.09 9-103 68 18 43.8 2.33
- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.
StatsGuru Filters for Sydney Barnes
Profile:
The finest bowler ever to play the game? Possibly, certainly one
of the most effective and versatile. His county and
international career (only 27 tests) were sadly brief, due to
disputes with the establishment, but Barnes was capable of
troubling the best batsmen in the world on a good wicket, and
was unplayable on a bad wicket. He was a high class spin bowler,
but operated at pace. Right arm medium or fast medium bowler,
leg breaks, off breaks, late swing, perfect length, and often
dismissed great batsmen for small scores with unplayable balls.
Could bowl very fast if it suited him to do so. A ball with
which he bowled Trumper was described by Charlie Macartney, the
non-striker as the sort of ball a sick man might see in a dream,
fast on the leg stump, moving late in the air to the off stump,
and cutting on off the pich to take the leg stump out of the
ground. Not impressed by captains, he usually set his own field.
He allegedly deliberately let Jessop hit him all over Old
Trafford as Maclaren had set what he considered an unacceptable
field for him.
In the second test of the 1911-12 series at Melbourne, Barnes
produced one of the great bowling spells. After a poor
performance in the first Test (likely in part due to his
annoyance at not opening the bowling), he destroyed the
Australian innings. He took 5 of the first six wickets to fall,
with an analysis at one point of 4 for 1, later 5 for 6 runs. He
and his opening partner, Foster, took 66 wickets in the five
tests of this tour, against an Australian side boasting Trumper,
Armstrong, and Hill. A competent bat, but not really interested
in batting or fielding. He did, however, put on 29 runs for the
last wicket with Arthur Fielder to win the Melbourne test of
1908 "to the astonishment of everyone concerned" as Wisden
stated. He was chosen to tour Australia in 1901-2, after only 6
first class matches in the preceding 7 seasons. He died in 1967,
and in his final year expressed the opinion that he would have
taken over 500 test wickets if he had played in the modern era
(based on the number of games played). He took 14 wickets in the
4th test against South Africa on the 1913-14 tour (to take his
total for the series for 49). He refused to play in the 5th, due
to a dispute over accomodation for his wife, and was never
picked for his country again. The touring West Indians thought he was the best
bowler he faced in the course of their 1928 tour (Barnes was 55 at
the time). (Dave Liverman, Jan 1998)
Last Updated: Monday, 29-Jul-2002 00:48:01 GMT
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